Black Friday four-day weekend traffic, sales up

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Retail foot traffic between Thursday and Sunday rose 8.4% to more than 594 million store visits, signaling retailers' earlier promotions and longer store openings may have paid off in the kick off of the holiday season sales on Black Friday weekend, ShopperTrak said on Tuesday. In another positive note, retail sales also rose 2.7% to $22 billion from $21.4 billion last year even though Friday sales were down. The four-day weekend last year represented 8.6% of the total industry holiday sales in November and December last year. ShopperTrak said traffic also rose Monday through Wednesday before Thanksgiving. "This indicates that some retailers are turning 'Black Friday' into a week-long event, and more consumers are visiting stores earlier in the week," ShopperTrak's Bill Martin said, adding the four-day weekend marked a strong start to the 32-day shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.